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Original poster

what do i do with house deeds?

24 replies

aristocat · 18/06/2009 22:18

i have been sent my house deeds and wondered if this has happened to others.
why have i got them and what should i do with them?

any help would be grateful.

OP posts:
K999 · 18/06/2009 22:19

Who sent you them??

plimple · 18/06/2009 22:19

I'm guessing you must've paid off the mortgage. Keep in a safe? Make a copy? Don't know really!

PlumBumMum · 18/06/2009 22:20

Get them into a saftey deposit box in the bank, I would think?

FiveGoMadInDorset · 18/06/2009 22:20

If they have been sent to you as you have paid of your mortgage, I would keep a copy and then lodge the originals in bank/solicitor for safe keeping

gemmiegoatlegs · 18/06/2009 22:20

put them in a fire proof box. Make copies. You can pay your solicitor to keep them for you.

HeavyweightChampion · 18/06/2009 22:21

some lenders send you them before you pay off your mortgage, so i am told,

i have mine and i have paid very little of my mortgage,

hocuspontas · 18/06/2009 22:22

If you own your house outright they are your proof of ownership. If you have a mortgage, the building society retain them while you owe them money! Ours are in a file upstairs somewhere but I'm sure a solicitor will look after them for you if you don't want to look after them yourself.

IlanaK · 18/06/2009 22:23

Ours are just in a paper folder on a shelf (we paid off our mortgage). You are all making me worried now!

PlumBumMum · 18/06/2009 22:23

I thought the bank kept your deeds until you paid off your house, as ownership.

hocuspontas · 18/06/2009 22:24

snap ilana!

Perhaps I ought to go and find them...

Original poster
aristocat · 18/06/2009 22:28

still have a mortgage - it was with the staffordshire/portman now nationwide

wondered if it was the change that made us have them

to be honest have had them about 12 months or more and forgotten about it until today !!!

OP posts:
cat64 · 18/06/2009 22:31

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bellavita · 18/06/2009 22:35

We have just changed our mortgage over to another company and the old lender has sent us our deeds back. For some reason, I thought they would have been sent to the new lender.

ABetaDad · 18/06/2009 22:35

Keep them in a bank vault.

My FIL paid off all but £10 of his mortgage so the bank had to keep them free of charge.

Do not keep them in your house.

cat64 · 18/06/2009 22:40

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bamboo · 18/06/2009 23:09

cat64 is right. Assuming your house is registered, the deeds no longer have any legal significance as the title is held electronically at the Land Registry.

They are only really of historical interest now.

Tinker · 18/06/2009 23:16

We were sent ours when we moved in. In a cupboard somewhere now . Why can't we keep them in the house? The Land Registry have a copy.

Lubyloo · 18/06/2009 23:17

Cat and bamboo are right. They are of no significance these days.

Schoolgirl · 18/06/2009 23:21

Nationwide are one of the Lenders who have a policy now of returning all deeds back to the house owners. Previous posters are right in that they have no legal significance and it's therefore not cost-effective to consider paying to have them stored. You will find however that there are probably useful documents in there that you should keep - for example, building regulation and planning permission etc. If you decide to sell the house in the future and you don't supply these to your solicitor, your buyer will probably ask for them and you may have to fork out for further copies from the Council.

Biccy · 18/06/2009 23:21

Am so relieved. We were sent ours when the Abbey 'dematerialised' (I LOVED that wording!), and despite us meaning to deposit them in the basement at my BIL's house, we still have them sitting on a shelf. They are interesting, but glad to hear they are not actually 'important'. Although, there is stuff in the deeds that isn't anywhere else as far as I know (like how high we can have our fences, and who has access to our back lane etc).

trixymalixy · 18/06/2009 23:22

My dad keeps of a mortgage of £1 (or some other minimal amount) so that his lender will store them for him,

mowbraygirl · 22/06/2009 14:40

As bamboo and others say your title deeds have no legal significance as they are now all held electronically at the Land Registry. Our building society had ours for years after we paid off the mortgage used to leave a £1 in our mortgage account for them to hold them. A couple of months ago we applied to have them, charged us £50 when we received them found out that although mortgage had been paid up years ago they only let Land Registry know they no longer had an interest in our property when we requested the deeds. Banks tend to charge quite a lot to hold anything in their safes as my sister in law found out when she got a charge on her bank statement. She now keeps hers in her filing cabinet at home like us.

fridayschild · 22/06/2009 15:02

As others have said, there is unlikely to be anything irreplaceable in the package the Nationwide have sent you, but there is usually also information which is useful. I would keep it at home if you are not worried about having to wait for the Council or land registry to send you copies (at your expense) if you need the information and it has been lost or destroyed at home.

Sometimes you will get information on boundaries ownership with the deeds which isn't found anywhere else.

Most solicitors will store them in a fire proof safe free of charge. The thinking is that you are more likely to use them for your conveyancing if they have the deeds. Why not send them to whoever has your wills (I appreciate this might be its own can of worms, of course!)

Original poster
aristocat · 22/06/2009 22:09

thanks ladies, you have all been a great help

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